As Park City’s Peace House grows, more help is needed

Peace House, a local nonprofit that serves victims of domestic violence, is getting a bigger home. And with a bigger home comes a need for more volunteers.

To get more hands on deck, Peace House holds a free volunteer training session every second Friday of the month in the Mountainlands Community Housing Trust board room, 1960 Sidewinder Drive, Suite 106.

The next session is set to run from 4:30-8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 14. Anyone interested can register by emailing Smith at jill@peacehouse.org or visiting peacehouse.org.

Last year Peace House sheltered 94 people for more than 2,700 nights total

"We also answered 641 calls for help through our crisis hotline, and we provided more than 2,400 hours of individual therapy," Tauber said.

The registration, which is free and will be accepted through the day of the session, helps volunteer coordinator Jill Smith plan the training sessions, which include dinner.

Recommended Stories For You

Trainees will come to understand the people who seek out Peace House for help and learn the necessary skills to assist them, according to Smith.

"There are many women, children and men in our community who are moving through the experiences of trauma and a spectrum of challenges that comes with those incidents," she said.

There are many volunteer opportunities, Smith said.

"We host some events and projects where people can just walk on and help, but there are other areas where training is needed," she said. "For example, volunteers need to know how to work with trauma-informed care for the vulnerable population we serve."

Most of those volunteers will work at the Peace House 24/7 emergency shelter, Smith said.

"We need many trained volunteers who can work with our advocates who help those in need," she said. "We also need volunteers who can answer our emergency hotline at all hours as well."

The hotline is the number one way that people in Summit and Wasatch counties contact Peace House, Smith said.

"Volunteers who answer the phones can direct those calls in to our staff advocates or to the many resources we have that help victims and people affected by domestic violence," she said.

Volunteers who are trained child-care providers will be needed in the campus' full-time childcare facility, while other volunteers are needed to provide or pick up meals for clients provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Heber City.

Not all volunteer positions are front-facing.

"We also need help in our administration offices with marketing, graphic design and mailings," Smith said. "We also have people who take out recycling paper and things like that."

The minimum age of volunteers who work directly with clients is 16, but there isn't an age limit for those who don't come into contact with the clients, according to Smith.

"We have a lot of teens who assist with donation drives, event preparation and event help," she said.

Peace House will host a volunteer training session from 4:30-8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 14, in the Mountainlands Community Housing Trust board room, 1960 Sidewinder Drive, Suite 106. Registration is open and can be done by emailing Jill Smith at jill@peacehouse.org or by visiting peacehouse.org.